Surrey Police said that Veck walked into Disking Computers International in the High Street on Friday December 19 last year at around 11.20am and threatened the shop worker with a hammer before leaving with £123 in cash.

CCTV footage showed Veck threatening staff with a hammer

CCTV footage shows Veck walking into the shop and spending around five minutes browsing the items on sale, whilst waiting for other customers to leave.

He then approaches the member of staff behind the counter and threatens to assault him, whilst at the same time waving a hammer in front of his face.

He can also be seen smashing the hammer down on the counter top, as he demanded money, before taking notes from the till and pocketing the hammer back in his coat.

Charlie Veck has been jailed for three and a half years

Surrey Police investigating officer, Detective Constable Lawrence Burden, said: “This was a terrifying incident for the member of the staff who was left extremely shaken as a result.

“Thankfully the shop has excellent CCTV footage which captured the whole incident and allowed us to identify Veck clearly as the person responsible.

"The quality of the footage played a key part in us solving this case and is a clear reminder that shops should take their security measures seriously.

“We will simply not tolerate such brazen and callous attacks in our community.

"I hope this sentence is of reassurance to the public and shop keepers that we do take their concerns seriously and will act to take prolific offenders like Veck off the streets.”

At the sentencing, Veck also asked for two further offences to be taken into consideration.

They include the theft of a purse in Waitrose car park in Farnham on December 23, and the attempted theft of a games console from a shop in Woolmead Road, Farnham on December 15.